Fearless Flyers

September 20, 2017

Stronger Through Tech

Before the fun starts, I want to start off this week by sending my continued thoughts to those affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma as well as my readers in the Great Plains and Pacific Northwest who are dealing with massive wildfires in their respective regions.

While obviously tragic, events like these can also serve as impossible to ignore reminders of the noblest intent of technology: to assist humans in an uncertain world.

Naturally, there is much to be said about the meteorologists, first responders, and medical personnel who employ tools such as Doppler forecasting, GPS, rescue drones, and even social media to make navigating disaster more efficient, but the fact remains that we Sapes are tremendously innovative, and it’s inspiring to see it come into action when it counts.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery, everybody.

Bruined Lives

If you’ve been getting this newsletter for a while–or even since last week–you know that I’m a pretty big college football fan, specifically of the undefeated (well, 2-0) UCLA Bruins. Here’s a shot of me with a couple of guys from my days on campus…isn’t it great that big-school college sports means you never really have to graduate?

Wing and a Prayer

They say it’s best to face your fears head on, and although they say a lot of things I don’t necessarily live my life by, I think they have a pretty good point on this one.

You see, I’ve mentioned once or thrice in this space that flying isn’t exactly my favorite activity…it’s fine when it goes right, but…yeah. They also say that if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself…and so, I’m currently in training to become a pilot.

Seriously, it’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and it’s not quite as daunting as I imagined it to be. If you’ve ever been curious about learning, this series of videos is really good. I personally think women make better pilots for their advanced multitasking skills, but I’ll try not to let my inferiority be too much of an obstacle.

Point, Click, Art

If you’ve been looking for a user friendly version of Adobe Illustrator to make your visual fantasies and meme-based dreams come to life, you’re in luck this idle Tuesday.

Canva is an inexpensive design resource that allows even the most artistically inhibited to create attractive designs or even just press enough easy to identify buttons so that it cranks one out by itself. Best of all, it’s web-based, so there’s no download or installation required.

Just a Suggestion…

Are expense reports a regular part of what you do? Expensify makes the process simpler than ever before with convenient features such as automatic employee reimbursement and expenditure tracking, and all the data gets compiled into a neat little system of reports.

In my opinion, it would be a worthy resource for a certain in-house team member who shall remain nameless.

That’s you, Sueann.

(I didn’t say how long the team member would remain nameless.)

The 5-Second Rule

No, not a conservation strategy for a jelly-side-down mishap, you toddler of an adult.

The 5-Second Rule is a book I read…um, heard…on overcoming our most consistent roadblock to success: the guy in the mirror. Without giving too much away, the book details the true value of stepping outside your comfort zone in a very persuasive manner.

How persuasive?

It played a big part in my transition from drunken, fearful passenger to soberly intrepid pilot trainee. That’s a darn good review, I know after hearing that I’d buy the book if I didn’t have it already.

The Last Word

All right, that’ll wrap things up for this week. Thanks as always for making time for me in your routine, I promise to do the same for you if you drop me an email. Oh, and if you have any Amazon purchases planned in the near future, now’s a great time to useAmazon Smile to benefit the Red Cross or another charity of your choice!